Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 562: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if her attention has been drawn to the ongoing distress of parents and children (details supplied) in County Monaghan where 12 second level school children who attend the vocational educational committee school at Ballybay are being forced to walk a distance of half a mile; if her attention has further been drawn to the fact that for one of these children in particular, there is the added burden of the weight of school books and their inability, medically confirmed, to carry any load whatsoever; if her attention has further been drawn to the fact that parents are currently involved in protracted action, including keeping children out of school and delayed attendance; if the school bus service will be directed to collect and return these children safely either to, or to a point near, their homes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35615/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The country is divided into catchment areas for the purposes of the provision of post-primary education. Under the terms of the school transport scheme, a pupil is eligible for school transport if he or she resides 4.8 km or more from the post-primary centre in the catchment area in which he or she lives. Post-primary school transport routes are planned so that no eligible child should have to travel more than 3.2 km to a pick-up point. Pupils living off the main route of a service are generally expected to make their own way to, or to be brought to, convenient pick-up points along that route. Eligible pupils who wish to attend a post-primary centre other than the centre serving the catchment area in which they reside may avail of transport on school services from within the catchment boundary of the centre being attended, subject to spare seats being available on the services and provided that no additional State cost is incurred. As the pupils from the area referred to by the Deputy do not reside in the Ballybay catchment area, they may avail of catchment boundary transport subject to the conditions I have outlined. The case of the pupil with medical needs was referred to the medical adviser who advises the Department of Education and Science on such matters. On the basis of that referral, the application was not approved on medical grounds.